Bodo Wilts (University of Fribourg, Switzerland) - Rainbows in nature: photonic structures, pigments and the role of disorder

Di Zhang (Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China)

Various biological surfaces are known to be covered by elaborated micro- and nano-structures, serving a number of functions (e.g. anti-reflective, structural coloration, antifouling, pro- or anti-adhesive, etc.) and inspiring numerous industrial applications. The field of micro- and nano-structured biological surfaces and their applications in biomimetics exists for several decades. Yet recent years have witnessed a remarkable development in research in this field. Largely, this boost owes to the increasing interdisciplinary of approaches being applied to the study of structured bio-surfaces. Sciences as different as classical zoology and botany are inseminated with the advances in genetics and molecular biology; biologists collaborate more and more with nanotechnologists, materials scientists and engineers - all these contribute to the widening of the horizons of research on micro- and nano-structured biological surfaces, and to biomimetic and bioengineering applications of these surfaces in industry. The main goal of our session is to bring together scientists coming from distinct disciplines into this vibrant field of research. This session will ensure cross-inspiration among the different participants coming from different research fields and will boost innovation in research and eventual industrial developments.

Amanda Bretman (University of Leeds, UK) - Sex and age-specific impacts of social context on microbiomes of Drosophila melanogasterfruit flies

Maria Elena Martino (University of Padova, Italy)

In the last decade, advances in sequencing and computational approaches have enabled the study of microbial communities associated with eukaryotic organisms at an unprecedented depth. These studies reinforced the notion that microbial communities impact the growth, development and health of their hosts. A prediction of this observation is that translational applications of host-microbiota interactions can impact life on earth for aspects as diverse as sustainable agricultural production and personalised medicine. Given the enormous potential for impact, this research field has been boosted in terms of research efforts globally. Novel methodological approaches and new resources are now available to facilitate next generation discoveries. This session aims at capitalising on these research efforts to highlight emerging trends and foster new, interdisciplinary, research collaborations.

The field of conservation physiology has grown exponentially over the last decade as conservation biologists and physiological ecologists are finding novel ways to apply physiological concepts and tools to characterise biodiversity and predict multi-scale responses to environmental change. The proposed session will not only serve as a platform to present the most cutting-edge tools in conservation physiology, but identify convergent themes in plant and animal conservation physiological studies.

PLANT AND CELL BIOLOGY

Tip growth in plant biology

Date: 4 & 5 July 2019

Who should submit:

Researchers with interest in the following areas: Life science, engineering, computer science and mathematical backgrounds with interest in the development of root hairs, pollen tubes, moss protonemata and fungal hyphae.

Organisers:

Kris Vissenberg (University of Antwerp, Belgium)

José Feijó (University of Maryland, USA)

Speakers:

Liam Dolan (University of Oxford, UK) - Emergence and evolution of tip growth in land plants

Tip growth is a process that diverse walled cells such as pollen tubes, root hairs, moss protonemata and fungal hyphae have in common. Due to the diversity of the experimental systems, it is unusual for those working on the phenomenon to have the opportunity to get together and compare systems and concepts.
The aim of this session is to provide an overview on recent advances in the molecular, physiological and genetic mechanisms underlying tip growth, but other aspects of cell polarity establishment and maintenance as well as trafficking, cytoskeleton remodelling, signaling and biophysics will be covered, in an attempt to promote and facilitate interactions between experimental researchers and modelers from life science, engineering, computer science and mathematical backgrounds.

Epigenetics is a novel concept conceived as the study of inheritable phenotypic differences in the absence of changes to the DNA sequence. The discovery of epigenetics caused a paradigm shift in genetics, having important consequences for a broad spectrum of disciplines, from cancer research to psychology. Epigenetic mechanisms were first discovered in plants, and since then, they have been demonstrated to play an important role in a widespread variety of biological processes, including: plant response to environmental changes, cell fate determination, chromosome organization, DNA recombination and repair, silencing of transposable elements (TEs) to control genome stability, and evolution. Additionally, epigenetics has emerged as a powerful biotechnological tool for agricultural interests, as it facilitates the stable manipulation of gene expression avoiding transgenesis. Moreover, the use of our current knowledge in epigenetics allows us to detect and induce new variants, having the potential to yield innovative and perhaps more sustainable agricultural strategies. With this in mind, our goal is to bring together world leaders, early career researchers and students in the field of epigenetics. This session aims to promote their interaction in the most conducive and encouraging environment, addressing many different aspects of epigenetics, from mechanisms to biological roles.

General cell and plant biology (poster session only)

The general Cell and Plant biology session invites posters on all the aspects of plant and cell biology that are not catered for in the specific section sessions. As such, the session is an important element of the scientific programme, with high-quality presentations on a wide spectrum of subjects.

Speakers:

The session will be focused towards the different processes that take place in the chloroplast and are subjected to redox regulation, such as the photosynthetic electron flux, carbon fixation, carbohydrate formation, developmental processes or adaptation to different abiotic or biotic stresses. Changes in light intensity can occur very rapidly in nature, affecting massively photosynthesis of plants by altering quickly the amount of light energy available for electron transport and carbon fixation. Several of the processes of adaptation to these changes are modulated by redox regulation mediated by different proteins such as thioredoxins, glutaredoxins and peroxiredoxins. A rapid and fine tuning of these processes are essential for the viability of the plant. In addition, the redox regulation is not limited to photosynthetic reactions and can also regulates developmental process or abiotic stress tolerance. Despite some results have been reported on these aspects, the contribution of the different elements to the redox regulation network has not been well defined yet. This session aims to bring together specialists on the different aspects of redox regulation in chloroplasts and to show an up-dated vision of the topic.

This session presents an overview of the most recent findings in the plant microbiome field. The aims of the session are to update the scientific community on new microbiome discoveries from the lab to the field and from the soil microbiota to the plant microbiome assembly; gain an appreciation of the potential for using microbiome based strategies in the modern agriculture; highlight the most recent tools and techniques in the study of complex biological systems; promote discussions about the implementation of new strategies in the agricultural microbiome research. The session's programme will consist of a combination of diverse microbiome experts from academic and private companies. It provides an excellent opportunity for defining new priorities in the microbiome science. The session has been designed to cover the progress from basic investigation in the lab to how we can apply it to the agriculture development; very attractive for private companies and academics. This session will provide a very attractive scientific context for discussion and interacting with other plant science disciplines.

Alternative splicing is a key post transcriptional mechanism that generates transcript and protein variants with different fates and functions from a single gene. Though a fundamental aspect of RNA biology and a major strategy to increase the coding and regulatory potential of eukaryotic genomes, it remains one of the least studied levels of gene expression control. Up to 70% of plant intron-containing genes are currently estimated to undergo alternative splicing, which determines many plant development and environmental response processes.

This session will cover the latest research on the mechanisms and relevance of alternative splicing in plant systems, focusing on the most recent approaches — e.g. transcriptomics, ribonomics, state-of the-art bioinformatics tools — and integrating different fields, such as molecular biology, genetics, cell biology, physiology, pathology and biotechnology, that are crucial to understand gene expression regulation in plants.

This session will explore the mechanisms underlying genetic and environmental control of water use efficiency in crops and model plant species. The approach will be highly integrative, bringing together researchers studying water use efficiency at all scales from the cell to the crop canopy. In addition to having a strong focus on fundamental discoveries about the regulation of stomatal and photosynthetic form and function, the session will reflect the importance of water use efficiency as a trait that needs to be improved in crops to enhance productivity, climate resilience and agricultural sustainability.

This session aims to cover recent advances in our understanding of how plants respond to water deficit, by enticing those from the root phenotyping, xylem hydraulics, long-distance chemical signalling and photosynthesis communities. It aims to integrate these sub-disciplines by exploring interactions between different parts of the plant and their regulation. Progress in these areas is expected to assist plant breeders and agronomists to enhance crop yields under water-limited conditions, but requires that attention is given to the appropriate traits.

This session will focus on the molecular and physiological mechanisms of model and crop plant abiotic stress perception and tolerance, the development and implementation of technologies underpinning precise phenotyping and monitoring of environmental conditions, and on the agronomic practices that improve plant stress tolerance. The session will showcase multiple approaches that lead to tackling crop stress tolerance encompassing disciplines beyond plant sciences, and will be a forum for open and informed discussion about approaches that lead to this aim - from breakthrough discoveries, experimental design, traits that have relevance in the field, and management options. Therefore this session will span blue-sky fundamental research to targeted solutions in the field.

In recent years, complete high quality reference sequences have been released for many crop species which provide an opportunity to apply systems biology approaches to understand gene networks regulating agronomically relevant traits. This session will discuss the use of gene network modelling to enable the to prediction gene networks and key breeding targets across a range of crop species. The session will also consider how the rapid identification of breeding targets, along with techniques such as gene editing could accelerate plant breeding.

Ever-increasing computational power, is allowing rapid advances in mathematical modelling of biological systems; for example the creation of the virtual rat. These are approaches that are revolutionising the life sciences. For plant biology this promises acceleration of understanding of the fundamentals of cell and organ development through to providing an informed molecular and biochemical framework for predicting systems and synthetic engineering of sustainable increases in crop yield under climate change. This session will focus on advances and achievements in computational plant biology, with particular emphasis on scaling and integrating through different levels of organization from whole plant and organ down to gene expression networks. It will include new tools for integrating models of different processes and layers of organisation to progress in the 3D representation from cells to crops. It will include, examples where in silico engineering is guiding breeding and bioengineering and has resulted in successful test-of-concepts in crop field trials from photosynthesis to 3D root-soil interactions. Offered presentations on all aspects of mathematical and computational plant biology will be welcome as well applications in the classroom.

Changing weather patterns are detrimental to plant growth and performance. Earlier springs, warmer nights, and other changes in temperature patterns have a negative impact on yield. Altered timing of weather events disrupts the coordination between internal activities and the surrounding environment. The plant’s circadian clock controls the coordination between molecular activities and the environment enabling optimised performance for a specific locale. This session focuses on the intersection of time and temperature signalling pathways and presents recent findings on how temperature affects the circadian clock and the role of time and the clock in the regulation of plant responses to temperature change and effects on phenology. We aim to bring together researchers whose focus spans from biochemistry to physiology to ecology. This session will explore recent discoveries in the biochemical signalling pathways that enable plants to sense changes in temperature and how these feed into the circadian clock; the physiological effects of changes in weather patterns and implications for a changing climate; the effects of changing temperature patterns on phenology and the ecological consequences of such changes. We strive to stimulate discussion on how to work across these system levels to develop plants that are resilient to a changing planet.